Page 20 of Love By a Landslide

Wrong.

She wasn’t cute. She was aliability.

“We aren’t supposed to get rain today, but what do the weather guys know?” He feigned a look of disappointment and continued, “If you want to cancel, I completely understand. I would be happy to refund your money, and—”

“Woah, there,” Lucy interrupted him. “You aren’t getting rid of me that easily. I’m not going to be scared off by two little raindrops. My boots are waterproof, and so is my jacket. I’ll be fine.” She stepped beside him under the hatch where he’d been going through supplies.

He leveled his gaze on her, one eyebrow cocked, taking measure. “Ok.” He shook his head. “You’re the boss.”

“And don’t you forget it,” Lucy ribbed, giving Jonathan a punch on the arm with her pointy little fist. “Besides, if I can’t see the sunshine, I’ll just have to be the sunshine.”

“What?” Jonathan scoffed, reaching up and rubbing the spot where she jabbed him. She sounded like a corny fortune cookie.

“Nothing.” She waved a hand, cheeks pinkening as embarrassment washed over her pretty face. “Just a stupid affirmation my mom says. Please forget I said it.”

“Happily,” he snorted then changed the subject. “Tell me you got the supply list email we sent two weeks ago and that you managed to get everything on it.” He held out a laminated sheet with the words2 Night Backpacking Tripat the top. Maybe she hadn’t seen the email, like the one that confirmed which hike she’d picked and missed a critical piece of equipment. They couldn’t go out if she’d forgotten, say, a tent or first aid kit. It would be a convenient way for him to end the whole thing.

To Jonathan’s dismay, she replied, “I did.” Taking the list from him, she gave it a once over. “And I did. I’ve got everything.”

Damn.

“Good.” One in each hand, he pulled the fully stocked packsfrom the back of the car. He set Lucy’s at her feet and swung his on in a swift, easy maneuver. The straps settled onto his shoulders like the bag was a natural part of his large frame. Something about the heavy weight of it made a buzzing energy ripple through him. It was the same every time. Hiking, backpacking, climbing. All of it revved him up and filled him with energy. It even dulled the concern he had about leading this woman on a solo trip. She’d be able to handle it. The hike was challenging, but she looked fit enough to manage. Maybe she’d surprise him and bound up the switchbacks like a gazelle.

Adjusting and clipping everything into place, Jonathan looked to Lucy and bit the inside of his cheek to hold back a laugh.

The pack was still sitting on the ground in front of her. With a foot braced on either side and two hands on one strap, she seemed to be giving herself a pep talk. Something about:you got thisandone foot in front of the otherandso forth.Then, following a few deep—and noisy—breaths, she hoisted her pack up and around behind her, aiming for her shoulders. However, clearly the combination of psyching herself up and overestimating the weight of her pack, she nearly toppled over with the momentum of the swing. With a little yelp and a quick stumble, she was able to catch herself before falling, and somehow the pack managed to land on her back. She shimmied, tugged, and adjusted until everything was in place and secure. Then blew a wayward strand of hair off her nose. A mixture of relief and pride lit up her face.

Strike that. Not a gazelle.

“Need anything before we head out?” Jonathan asked with a forced, straight face.

“Nope, I’m ready to get going,” Lucy chirped, beaming at him like a kid about to go to Disneyland for the first time.

Genuine excitement filled her grin. Smile wide, apples of her cheeks pink, eyes glittering. The expression mirrored howJonathan felt whenever he was about to explore someplace new. Maybe this one-on-one thing wouldn’t be so bad. Beautiful location and beautiful company. He chose to be optimistic; what could go wrong?

Chapter eleven

Lucy

Fortunately for Lucy and her gap in experience, the trail started off flat as a pancake. She congratulated herself for shelling out an extra hundred bucks to buy the fancier backpack model because it made the excessive thirty pounds of gear on her shoulders feel manageable. It took a few minutes to adjust to the unlevel terrain and she spent the first few minutes exclusively watching her new hiking boots. Keeping up the ruse that she was an avid outdoorswoman was crucial, at least until they reached a point of no return.

Eventually, feeling steady on her feet, she looked up to take in her surroundings for the first time since venturing out.

Her first realization centered around noticing what wasn’t there: the imposing ecosystem of downtown Seattle. Gone were the character-lacking buildings reaching for the sky, in varying states of completions, tattooed with scribbles, gang tags, and defaced murals. There were no cars honking, metal grinding from active construction sites, and overlapping music and calls from buskers trying to earn a living. There wasn’t even a whiff of exhaust or dumpsters or weed.

Instead, trees trimmed both sides of the trail, and while the towering giants stood tall, shoulder to shoulder, the forest wasn’t as densely populated as it was west of the Cascades. Light filtered through the boughs, streaming between breaks in the thick gray clouds that almost certainly promised more bouts of rain. Waterdroplets caught glimpses of light, refracting them around in playful shimmers, mimicking fairies dancing between cones and needles. Birds chirped dulcet melodies, calling greetings to one another as the morning wore on. Chipmunks and other critters scuttled up trees and beneath the brush. The dull thudding of two sets of hiking boots tromping along the trail beat in time with her own breath heaving steadily in her ears for lack of louder sounds. Lucy took a deep breath, welcoming the cool air into her lungs. A gentle breeze, teasing at escaped whisps of hair, hung heavy with the scent of sap and dirt and summer rain. This must have been how Dorothy felt when she first visited Oz and entered the technicolor world.

Shivers rose from Lucy’s lower back up to her neck, but she wasn’t cold. She felt big inside. Her heart expanded in a way that it hadn’t in years, light and airy as though filled with helium or like seeing a long-lost loved one.

Or like she’d just come home.

The pair traveled silently for the first mile, which was all right with Lucy. She would have felt slightly guilty polluting the uncut wilderness with forced conversation. Out there, so many sounds harmonized together that it felt like only meaningful discussions should be allowed to interrupt the natural melody. But the reality of it was that therewouldbe casual chit-chat because two strangers hiking together waxing poetic about the meaning of life just didn’t fit. And eventually, it would get weird if neither of them spoke the whole way.

But damned if she was going to be the one to start.

Lucy had every intention of enjoying the quiet and the view. She glanced up ahead; her not-so-loquacious leader was keeping a blessedly moderate yet steady pace that she had no trouble keeping up with.

Speaking of views and waxing poetic, that man had quitethe butt. Each stride that Jonathan took pulled his hiking pants snuggly against his round, presumably well-muscled rear. Step, flex, step, flex. Could it naturally be doing that, or was he putting on a show for her?

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